In the Stargate Atlantis series finale Enemy At The Gate the consequences of the reality breaking signal as seen in the episode Vegas is felt as a Hive ship in “our” reality receives the information. This may not have been too bad but unfortunately an underling of Todd has secured a ZPM and created a Hive that is vastly more powerful than any before it. It is bigger and faster with every subsystem improved, the only upside is that only its sensors were good enough to pick up the signal and the Wraith commanding has no wish to share the location of this new feeding ground. John gates back to Earth to help defend the planet using the Ancient chair and Atlantis is forced to give chase thanks to Todd providing them with his stick pile of ZPM’s. The Hive gets to Earth very quickly and destroys Area 51 which by bad fortune houses the recently relocated Chair but thanks to one of these plot (rabbit out of the hat) points Zelenka gets the wormhole drive to work and Atlantis appears in orbit just in time to intervene, the battle is joined. John in a nuclear equipped 302 gains access to the Hive but is very surprised to find his team already there thanks to the quirk of having two gates in close proximity, together they attempt to fight there way out but time is running out as it and Atlantis trade blows above the Earth.
Enemy At The Gate is a good episode of Stargate Atlantis and for the most part is not a bad season finale however it is not a good series finale, the story was rushed and plot issues not really addressed, maybe if the TV movies had been made they would have taken the sting out of being left with that final scene but we’ll never know. That said the production value of the episode is excellent, there is some stunning visual effects and full use is made of the standing Hive sets which have never looked better but there were still stories to be told and that will forever colour opinion on this episode.
Many thanks to Thomas for joining us for the final episode of Atlantis, he’ll return for a few episodes of Stargate Universe. Thank to everyone that left the feedback for Vegas and other things, always appreciated. This weeks promo is for the Legends of S.H.I.E.L.D. podcast and next week we are going to be taking a look back at the final season of Atlantis in the wrap up show and announce the results of the listener poll.
Picture this, the desert just outside of Las Vegas and a police cordon surrounding a desiccated body, a car roars up and Detective John Sheppard arrives to continue the investigation into a string of murders. A number of bodies have been turning up and it looks like the life has been drained from them, a strange radiation residue is on each and a hand print on their chests, for the viewers the alarm bells are ringing but there is a twist. Vegas is the first Stargate episode which takes place fully in an alternate reality (similar to the Enterprise episode Through a Mirror Darkly) and for a brief amount of time the viewer could be convinced John is back on Earth in an undercover roles but no this is another Earth and all our favourite characters (minus the Pegasus derived Teyla and Ronon) are here but not quite the same. In many ways the episode sticks out like a sore thumb and certainly polarises the audience thanks to the production style and music choices but it does still fit into the season/series with direct links to plot elements explored previously. I’m not going into to much detail plot wise because this is an episode if you haven’t seen then you should and if you haven’t seen it since it aired it’s well worth going back too, trust me:)
Vegas also allowed the producers to get many of the crew and familiar former cast members into the show, again a pity Jason and Rachel didn’t appear but we did get Gary Jones, Neil Jackson, Jody Thompson, Christopher Heyerdahl, Paul Jarrett and Carmen Moore on screen. Cameos included Joel Goldsmith, Charles Cohen, Roy Winston, Todd Brunson and of course Brad Wright.
Many thanks to Matthew for joining Alan on this episode, audio issues appeared late in the day meaning they couldn’t be addressed so apologies for the quality but we’re sure we can solve that before Matthew returns for an episode of Universe sometime in the future. This weeks podcast promo is for Tuning Into Sci-Fi TV and next week we are going to be discussing the series finale “Enemy at the Gate” and didn’t that come around fast?
In the fifth season episode Outsider Dr Carson Beckett is running a small medical clinic amongst a community on another world, the team visit to bring medical supplies and then the Wraith turn up looking for refugees from Balar a world recently destroyed since it’s population were infected by the Hoffan drug and would kill any Wraith that fed upon them. The Wraith commander gives the village an ultimatum, identify the refugees and live or deny them and bring about the wrath of the Wraith. John attempts to get the council to take the high road but he is unable to evacuate or fight the Wraith and then local elements start to herd the refugees and hand them over. One of the refugees offers information to the Wraith commander in return for freedom, he points out Carson as being an expert on the Hoffan plague and the Wraith capture Carson and Rodney and then kill the informant, there is no survival option for those infected at least from the point of view of the Wraith. John and the team continue to rally support in the village and eventually use guile and deceit to get what they want, the Wraith are killed and they fight their way to the gate only to be met by Rodney and Carson who have themselves used their intelligence to escape from the Wraith ship. The survivors of the world along with the refugees are taken to Atlantis and then relocated on another world hopefully well away from Wraith interest but once again the fallout from the biological defence/offence against the Wraith continues to have serious consequences.
Outsiders is not my favorite episode of the fifth season, it is however very well produced and the set/props departments excelled at making the standing village set look very different from what we’ve seen before. There were very good performances from Joel Polis and Sean Tyson which helped to raise the episode but it lacks any real impact on the major events of this final season of Atlantis. This weeks podcast promo is for The Saturday B Movie Reel and next week we are going to take a look at the episode Inquisition and let us know what you think, we’d love to hear your thoughts on the episodes of Stargate and of our own coverage.
In First Contact the mid-season finale of the final season of Stargate Atlantis the city is visited by Daniel Jackson. He is convinced that the ancient named Janus had a secret lab within the city, together he and Rodney discover it and it’s treasure trove of technology. One device begins to emit a signal which is picked up by a piece of ancient technology overseen by an unidentified alien species who then raid Atlantis stealing technology and kidnapping Daniel and Rodney. Meanwhile a diplomatic party onboard the Daedalus have met with a Todd and a small fleet of Wraith and discussions are ongoing to the use of the new retrovirus. The aliens holding the boys threaten their lives if they do not activate the ancient technology which Rodney has been able to identify as a means to negate hyperspace drives based on their specific energy signatures. Turning the systems on would mean the Wraith ships would be limited to sublight but a previous test over ten thousand years ago indicated a serious side effect which was probably responsible for the system not being deployed during the war. Rodney turns the machine on and two Wraith cruisers vaporise as they enter hyperspace, Todd recognises the technology being used and incapacitates the crew of the Deadalus and takes over the ship. It’s only later that Rodney discovers the side effect of the device, while it prevents the use of hyperspace it also causes a power build up in any Stargate attempting to access wormholes and Atlantis unaware of the threat begins to dial out. Radek sees the energy build up but can not prevent it so he wraps the gate in the cities shield but it can not dissipate the energy from the destroyed Stargate and a minimal amount breaches causing serious damage to the gate room and the tower.
First Contact is geared up to provide a cliffhanger for the break over the holidays and more importantly introduce a highly advanced species from within Pegasus, the existence of such has been referred to by a number of space faring races and like the Asurans before them remained in the shadows. Of course at this point the Atlanteans are unaware of who they are dealing with and the technology presented offers no clue apart from being able to sidestep much of Ancient technology from ten thousand years ago. Interesting to note the Wraith who have continued to develop their sciences have found solutions to many of the threats offered by the Ancients which indicates this new race have not kept pace, the question is why.
First Contact even judged as a single episode is excellent, we have Daniel making it back to Atlantis again and of course things go wrong, Rodney is all upset as he sees Daniel as a rival more so than many others and we get award winning CGI/VFX in the episode, the sequence in the gateroom as the stargate is destroyed was truly gorgeous. I think it’s safe to say we were all on tenterhooks awaiting the second half of this story and in 2016 that means recording our take on it the same night as this episode and releasing the finished podcast a week later. This weeks podcast promo is for the Scifi Movie Podcast and next week we are going to be discussing The Lost Tribe and Thomas will be with us once again.
Thanks to Mack and Levi for the feedback and feel free to let us know what you think of Stargate and our coverage of the episodes:)
In the ninth episode of the season “Tracker” we meet a new runner named Kiryk played by Mike Dopud. Dr Keller is going to visit a world where the local village is in need of some basic treatment, Rodney decides to tag along and to his annoyance so does Ronon. As Jennifer examines a native woman the boys go to the local tavern and when they return Jennifer is missing and Ronon attempts to track her movements. He discovers she was taken by a single individual and the pursue but are foiled by some clever traps being set. Keeler learns that she has been taken to provide treatment for a young girl who the Runner is protecting but the Wraith turn up and now it’s a question who will get to their quarry first.
There isn’t a lot to say about Tracker since the story is fairly basic but it is an episode that focuses on character and we get that in spades with the performance of Mike and Jewel, the dynamic is well written and performed especially when we compare the portrayal of Keller in the earlier episode Missing, lots of character growth for the doctor. It’s not to say there isn’t plenty going on, the added impetus provided by the arrival of the Wraith sets up some good set piece action sequences and it’s interesting to see another Runner and his particular skill set aided by the alien transportation device. It also goes without saying that the woodland used to film the episode looked spectacular with some great shots captured and the commentary track for the episode goes into detail the issues which they had to overcome on this location shoot.
Tracker overall is an above average episode, not quite in the top tier but well worth a rewatch and of course we get to see Mike return the Stargate franchise in the second season of Universe.
This weeks podcast promo is for Nutty Bites the ever entertaining chat themed roundtable which discusses all things geek. Next week we are joined by Thomas for “First Contact” the first episode in a two parter where a new to the Pegasus alien species is introduced and who seriously shake things up, well whenever Daniel visits things happen 🙂
Thanks to Levi, Mack and Steve for the feedback, always appreciated and we’d love to get more so don’t be shy if you have something to say, you can email us or use this sites contact forms and we are also on Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter so plenty of options.
The Queen is the focal point of a Wraith Hive, the grand alliance is still struggling to deal with the emergence of Atlantis but unlike before there are Wraith who deal directly with the humans who now control the great city. In this episode the team approach a hive on a diplomatic mission, they board and are greeted by Todd and around a table filled with food (Todd at the farmer earlier). They discuss the use of the latest version of the retrovirus which could eliminate the need for Wraith to feed on humans and take sustenance from ordinary food. Todd is sceptical but agrees that it could give his hive an advantage but without the consent of the Queen who dominates the alliance nothing can be done. The only way to approach the ruling Queen with the idea of the retrovirus would be through another Queen and as Teyla has Wraith DNA it is decided that she will undergo drastic procedures to turn her into a Wraith at least in the short term.
After much deliberation Teyla undergoes the surgery and is transformed into a Wraith Queen. Todd teaches her some of the basics she needs to know as well as making her understand that attitude and confidence is everything when dealing with Wraith let alone another Queen. They board the Queen’s hive which then jumps into hyperspace and after some uneasy introductions Teyla is invited to discuss her purpose for the visit but Todd seizes his chance and drives a knife into her throat and as the alarms sound he jams the knife into Teyla’s hand. As the Wraith and Drones rush in Teyla plays her part shouting down descent and proclaiming that any Queen who could die so easy was not worthy of leading the alliance and now she is the Queen of this ship. The Wraith commander is not happy but accepts the new dynamic but then messages arrives telling of an incursion of one of their feeding grounds by another hive, Teyla reluctantly agrees to leave their position (knowing John and Co will have more trouble finding them) but a Queen would not ignore this incursion. Upon arrival she immediately orders an attack against the trespasser and Todd is unable to stop the wholesale slaughter of Wraith pilots and crews but even as things turn bad she is saved when the puddle jumper arrives via the Stargate and puts six drones into the opposing hive. Alas they are then captured and Teyla tells them to bide their time but is overheard by the commander who attempts to kill her, she defends herself and Todd finishes him off. She now has total control of the hive which she leaves in the capable hands of Todd with the promise to the crew that she is still their Queen and will protect them, she takes her leave with a warning to Todd that if he does anything stupid she can return and take command once again.
I think you may glean that I quite liked The Queen, it’s an excellent story giving the Wraith a lot more depth and opens up their society a little more. It also makes good use of the long term narrative of some Athosians being “tainted” by Wraith DNA and even offers the possibility that the Wraith and the humans are not as different as was indicated from the pilot of Atlantis and subsequent Wraith specific episodes. The makeup and prosthetics were stellar, the transformation of Teyla was spectacular and Rachel’s performance as she wrapped the cloak of her Wraith Queen persona around her was a sight to behold. Christopher was as ever wonderful as the uber intelligent and manipulative Todd and lets not forget Kenny either 🙂
Many thanks to Ian for joining us on the sunday afternoon to record this episode, he will return later in the season and thanks for the feedback over on google+ as well as continued support on Twitter and Facebook. This weeks promo is for the SciFi Diner podcast and next week we are taking a look at Tracker.
Teyla returns from Earth after an interview with a new IOA rep Mr James Coolidge, Ronon is facing the same and he seems calm about it but Sam is having doubts and recruits Teal’c to Atlantis to offer some insight and his experience to Ronon, however Ronon is in no mood to be tutored on dealing with the IOA on Earth and after drawing his weapon on Teal’c the two retire to the gym for some hand to hand diplomacy. After about an hour of the two beating the crap out of each other Sam breaks the fight up and the two get ready to travel to Earth via the intergalactic gate bridge with a 24 hour stop off at Midway station. Unbeknown to them a Wraith cruiser has landed on a planet which hosts one of the Stargates used in the bridge and hacked into the system (perhaps with knowledge gleaned from Todd’s time in the city) and a force of warriors gate to Midway and brutally take it over. Dr Lee and two other SGC personnel (Dr Kavanagh is one) prevent the immediate travel onto Earth which allows Ronon and Teal’c to do what they are best at but eventually the Earth gate is accessed and a device sent through followed by more warriors, Ronon and Teal’c pursue.
John and his team access the bridge via a Stargate that is further into the system than the compromised one and bring the fight to Midway and eventually kill all but one of the Wraith after venting the atmosphere, John is trapped and dying but has to fight off the final Wraith while the rest of the SGC personnel abandon Midway in a jumper, it wouldn’t be Stargate if a new toy doesn’t get blown up within a few episodes. This time it’s the fault of Kavanagh who had tried to override the lockout and tipped a booby trap one Rodney had carefully avoided so boom Midway is no more and the survivors are adrift for a week waiting patiently for rescue.
Midway is a top notch action based episode, the armours, stuntman and cgi specialists really went to town and produced some excellent close quarter combat set pieces, praise to Christopher and Jason for doing some fantastic work as well and of course Bill and Ben (yeah I know) for their banter. I’ve got to offer my thanks to Brad for joining me on the podcast as Alan was in the middle of his move and of course a tip of the hat to Bill for his itunes review. Speaking of which we’d love a few more so don’t be shy, if you listen via itunes then rate the show and gives us a review, we would be very appreciative. This weeks promo is for The Starling Tribune the podcast I listen to for all me Arrow chat and information and next week we are going to be looking at the Atlantis episode The Kindred Part 1.
The long range scans from Atlantis picks up a Hive ship stationary in deep space well away from any planets, the tracker embedded in Todd is pinging from the ship and as it shows no sign of movement a team is sent to investigate. While John and company are gearing up he puts his foot down with Teyla and clearly states that her pregnancy negates her going on this mission, he points out she may be the last of her people and she and her child can not be put at risk, she disagrees. Upon arrival the team discover a damaged Hive with dead Wraith onboard and the tracker lying in a pool of organic goo on the bridge fall, it had been torn out of Todd either by him or by who ever attacked the Hive ship. They seem quite pleased, while the Hive is damaged it’s not a write off and well Ronon said he didn’t touch anything but hey presto the intended destination of the Hive is on screen and indicates a highly classified Wraith complex. John after returning to Atlantis approaches Teyla and asks her to return to the Hive and use her talents to pilot the ship, she agrees and finds that her pregnancy seems to have increased her ability to merge her mind with the Hive control systems and the ship is much less stressful to fly. They arrive at the system where the complex is housed and find that a Hive ship is in orbit and the planet has a space gate, they take a cloaked jumper down (Teyla and Lorne stay onboard the Hive) and the team infiltrate the base and discover the usual creepy corridors and a number of birthing facilities. They also discover a huge chamber full of what look like cocoons or pods each holding a Wraith, McKay tells them that there may be over a hundred of these chambers in the complex meaning potentially thousands of Wraith. It turns out that Todd (who they find in a cell) had stolen a couple of ZPM’s from the Asuran homeworld during the battle and the complex needs ZPM energy levels to power this complex which uses a Queen to create a template Wraith off spring which is then cloned on a massive scale. Todd had planned all this but had been betrayed by one of his own who now serves the Queen in this base and before they can sabotage the complex they are stunned and imprisoned yet Todd manages to escape and make his way to the Hive with Teyla on board. The Queen interrogates the team and just before she feeds off Rodney her mind is taken over by Teyla using her enhanced mental strength to control a Wraith yet the mind battle goes on, a duel of wills which continues as the Queen releases the team and then just before she regains her being John empties his clip into her and they flee. They get to the Hive just in time for the other Hive to commence attacking but they can not leave without destroying the complex, they get into the jumper and send their Hive plummeting into the surface of the planet vaporising the complex. Todd once again lives to complicate matters another day and Teyla realises that she can not be act as if she only has to look after herself and teammates, she has a duty to her unborn which slightly alters her opinion on how John had treated her both as a friend and colleague.
Spoils Of War is pretty much an unofficial third part of the mid-season two parter but then again this is serialised drama so it’s uncommon for episodes to be closely related just not quite this much. Not for the first time Todd is actually played by Brendan Penny and voiced by Christopher Heyerdahl and I’ll admit until doing the podcast that fact totally passed me by, in my defence first time around I wasn’t watching the show on a large tv or in HD and I was never big into forums and such like so a lot of trivia was passing me by. We got another Wraith Queen again played to perfection by Andee Frizzell who really got the malicious vibe on overdrive when she was confronting Teyla, that was perhaps more intense that her confrontation with John and Rodney. The sets and the visual effects were all good quality, not fall out from the high costs of recent episodes but it has to be said the Hive smashing into the planet could and should have been rendered to a much larger scale, this was a global killer not just a rather large boom. Mind you the look on the Wraith when he was told the Hive they were targeting was flying straight towards them was priceless:)
The episode is a very solid fourth season offering and it was good we got a little more balance to the Teyla situation, up to now it was all big bad John but as first Ronon gave her his support John had to admit he was perhaps a little too overprotective but on the flip side we did get to see Teyla also acknowledging her obligation to the child. All this had to be resolved as this aspect of the character and story is going to become very important as the season wraps and the fifth kicks off.
Many thanks to Jeff for joining us this week, we had a little technical hiccup about 9 minutes into the recording and I admit I panicked a little when I couldn’t find part of the recording but once I realised it had saved under a totally different naming format it all worked out ok. This weeks promo is for the SciFi Diner podcast and next week we are going to be talking about Quarantine which is a change of pace for the show, hope you join us for that and please let us know what you think, we want to know:)
Rodney is talking to his sister Jeannie via email and picking her brain to solve a nanite issue involving a medical application and when she is kidnapped he returns to Earth along with John and Ronon to aid the NID and SGC in the search. It soon becomes evident that she was taken due to the interception of the email correspondence and then Rodney himself is kidnapped with Agent Barrett left unconscious in a parking lot. Henry Wallace the owner of Devlin Medical Technologies who have been getting access to alien tech via their defence contracts has been searching for a cure for his daughter (Sharon) and having discovered the potential of the nanites has gone to an extreme length to give her a chance for life. Rodney and Jeannie are promised their freedom if they help and eventually Sharon awakes fully healed but soon after collapses again as the nanites still poorly coded begin to fix everything regardless of the consequences. She is left in a vegetative state after the nanites turn her heart off and starve her brain and she eventually passes away but Jeannie has the nanites in her as well and it’s at that point they are rescued but no one on Earth has the knowledge to fix the nanites before they kill her as well.
It’s decided that only Todd who has worked with the Replicator code in the past could offer a solution and eventually he agrees to help but he soon collapses as he has not fed for some time. John approaches Henry and simply lays out his options and the still remaining consequences of his actions, Henry sees some redemption in helping to save Jeannie and soon after an “accident” occurs in the lab allowing the wraith to feed and then the work on the code is finished. The nanites in Jeannie are deactivated and Rodney has a heart to heart with his sister and then with John, it’s all worked out ok even with the tragic choices made by a desperate father.
Miller’s Crossing brings Jeannie (Kate Hewlett) back to the show and while the chemistry between the siblings is evident it’s now used to drive a much more darker and disturbing storyline. It’s understandable the actions that Henry Wallace takes, he has the knowledge and resources to offer his child a chance of life and he is going to take it and I believe he would have honoured his promise to release Rodney and Jeannie and turned himself in if honest effort and hopefully success had been achieved. No plan ever goes smoothly and his desperate move to infect Jeannie may have brought some positives that pretty much in story terms meant he could not get out of this with a win, in this case both he and his daughter died albeit the former in an act of redemption which I think we can honour. It’s disappointing that the writers didn’t consider taking John down a deeper path since they felt he was struggling with the decisions he made in regards to Wallace but I guess Atlantis wasn’t that type of show.
We’ve got to thank Andrew for joining is this week for an episode he requested, as always we have to juggle the time to suit three people in three timezones but we got it done with the minimum of fuss and in that respect if you want to join us for an episode please get in touch. The same goes for any feedback on Stargate and our own coverage of the episodes.
This weeks promo is for the Flash Pulp podcast who offer up original audio stories and discussion with a modern “pulp” theme, two or more shows each week so check them out. Next week we are going to be watching This Mortal Coil which was the mid-season finale for the fourth season, hope you join us for that and keep watching Stargate 🙂
Teyla and the group pay a visit to the world of the Vedeenans and a man known as Davos, he is reputed to be an oracle of some sort who can predict the future, his visions have allowed his people to remain untouched when the Wraith last visited their world. As they step through the Stargate they are greeted by Linara the daughter of Davos and she tells them they have been expected, an ideal reception when visiting a fortune teller, an alien one at that. Davos greets them and offers his hand to Rodney in an attempt to prove his bona-fides and Rodney is given a vision of a Wraith ambush, he seems to be convinced that Davos is worth taking back to Atlantis to receive treatment as he is close to death. Richard Woolsey is on a visit to Atlantis for an evaluation of Colonel Carter’s command of the expedition so it’s not an ideal time to get a round about message from “Todd” (not officially names as of yet but come one we all know him as Todd) asking for a meeting. It turns out that the vision was a foretelling of this encounter with Todd so expecting an ambush they go armed with big sticks but it turns out that it was a genuine meeting and the vision while accurate was not interrupted correctly, an ongoing issue when dealing with Davos and his ability. Todd when put into the brig offers them a deal, they are of course suspicious but he drops the bombshell that the replicators are slaughtering whole human worlds to deny the Wraith a food source and to stop them then the Wraith need access to Rodney and by providing the original base code hack first used ten millennia ago they believe it can be tweaked to shut down the replicators again, Carter is sceptical but agrees to the deal (with provisions) and the work commences. Meanwhile Davos offers Teyla an olive branch, her people are alive but he can not see where they are except it’s within a darkness and then he tells her he knows she is with child and his vision for Carter is of Atlantis being destroyed by Replicator starships and as he says, he has never been wrong. A second Wraith Hive ship approaches the planet and they cloak the city, their trust in Todd is rewarded when the two hives do battle and they are both destroyed and Todd acknowledges his slight twisting of the deal and provides the full basecode for Rodney to work on. Woolsey is a little ashamed of how he acted in trying to overrule Carter and returns to Earth with a positive report of her command and Davos who succumbed to his illness is taken back to his own world by his daughter, Atlantis is left to await the predicted attack by the Replicators…
The Seer has some merit in that in brings Todd (as he eventually known as) and while I have no issues with the performances from any of the guest stars or regular cast the episode feels a little flat. It’s rather a pity because thanks to some creative resource allocation the episode has some very nice look visual and practical effects but maybe the simple story of Davos and the Replicator basecode are not strong enough to really entertain. It’s true not every episode in a series can hit a home run so to speak and The Seer falls short but it’s not a bad episode, good production and some good scenes (Teyla all the time and Carter face to face with Todd) yet it fails to really catch the imagination.
This weeks podcast promo was for The Babylon Project and next week we are joined by Andrew for the excellent episode Miller’s Crossing and the return of Kate Hewlett to Stargate. Thanks to everyone that kept in touch and again a pretty good summer month for downloads, it may be we’ve hit the real core group of listeners who stick with us no matter what so a pat on the back and gold stars all around. Feel free to get in touch with us if you want to share any thoughts on Stargate or our podcast and if you fancy joining us for a show then check the schedule for the rest of this season or even ask about the next season, we would love to get more voices discussing an episode.
The silence from the transplanted Taranin people worries Elizabeth and she sends the team to investigate, upon arrival they found the settlement empty but knowing it was built upon a huge complex of tunnels holds out hope that the people have moved underground perhaps to safeguard themselves from the Wraith. As the team searches the complex they detect a lifeform but then are attacked by a large creature, they wound it and as it flees they find a store room full of dead bodies, they have discovered the fate of the Taranins. In an adjacent room there is a large pod/cocoon and Ronon going walkabout finds the lab with the remnants of carnage and an Iratus bug in a container, having lost contact with the Marines sent as backup they return to the Stargate only to find that the control crystal of the DHD has been removed, they have no option but to return to the underground complex and search for whoever is responsible.
The culprit is revealed when her returns to find the destroyed remnants of his horrifying experiment, it’s Michael Kenmore who is exploiting the very technology that was used to create his own circumstance with a true megalomaniacs desire to take over not only the world but the entire galaxy with his own genetically engineered creatures who are a mixture of Iratus and human. Teyla is isolated from the team and taken captive by Michael who as always had an affinity for her but now views her as an enemy and just one more ingredient to create more of his minions but after running battles, tense standoffs and lots of hide and seek the team evade the horde of creatures and using Michael’s own dart escape the planet and return to Atlantis.
Well Vengeance is a pretty dark episode, Stargate has never been afraid to move past the grey but we get a rather graphic display of the horror’s Michael is willing to impose on his captives. That said he is a creation of Carson Beckett who should probably have known better than attempting to alter a species so dramatically regardless of the threat they pose and it’s 50/50 if the Wraith as a whole or Michael as an individual is the greater threat. We got some high quality prosthetic and suit work in the episode from Masters FX and certainly the lower lighting conditions helped to sell the scenes the acting and stunt work combined with the makeup and pyrotechnics delivered a pulse pounding action sequence time and time again. As always Conner more than delivers a stellar performance, it may be the writing or he may have simply found the style of “Michael”, either way he is delivering a level of calm and controlled menace all the best bad guys have in spades.
Vengeance was a pleasure to watch and yes they made no bones about the casual lifting of ideas from the Alien franchise with their own particular twist of course:)
A big thank you to Shannon for joining us for the first time, a seasoned podcaster who despite some jury rigging was able to get into the swing of how we do things effortlessly. Our next recording will be for the Atlantis season 3 wrap up so the favourite episode poll is now up and running, it will close on the 16th of May so please let us know by voting which is your favourite S3 episode. This weeks promo is for the Voices of Defiance which is hosted by Shannon and they should return with new content in time for the third season of Defiance on Syfy and next week we have the Stargate SG1 series finale Unending, please join us for that and if you are going to give us some feedback that is the episode to do it for 🙂
The Ancients built a geothermal operation on the seabed and as the jumper searches for it tensions rise, yeah the are we there yet cliche is in full force but not to worry the complex is revealed but Teyla is uneasy, she senses something but no life signs beyond those that came down in the jumper register. She convinces Elizabeth to allow to her meditate to see if she detect a Wraith presence and well the results are not good, Ronon gets a good old ass kicking and there are power outages galore. Teyla is corralled and has no memory of what she had been doing but then the scanners detect a Wraith cruiser on the seabed and now it’s Queen is roaming the complex and picnicking on the scientists who don’t seem to realise the danger they are in, at least for a short time. The Queen is captured but she reveals that she has set her ship to self destruct, the thousands of years of being alone has caused her to roll the dice for all or nothing and the clock is ticking.
Submersion is an interesting episode, it paves the way for a major event in the finale so certainly serves a purpose but seems like it was a little rushed but saying that the redressing of the sets to give us the Ancient drilling platform worked very well. We got some good Rodney moments and Teyla got to see some action and how rare is it to see Ronon so beaten and so quickly, granted he really wasn’t expecting to but still. It’s always great to see how the makeup and effects departments picture the latest Wraith Queen once again played by Andee Frizzell, maybe not as aesthetically pleasing (depending upon your point of view) but certainly a more slimy and aquatic feel, the long shots of her swimming certainly seemed to indicate quite large feet assuming they were not flippers.
This weeks promo was for Beyond the Wall a Game of Thrones podcast from SpecFic Media and next week we are going to watching the Stargate SG1 episode Dominion in which we see the return of Adria, not many more SG1 episodes left 🙂
The Atlantis team follow in the footsteps of unit led by Major Leonard who has failed to maintain contact with the city, they find the dead bodies of some Genii soldiers as well as what appears to be a Wraith device emitting a mysterious signal and unfortunately nearby the dead SG team who it seems may have killed each other at least by the evidence of a video camera found at the scene. Rodney believes the alien device is capable of influencing the minds of those nearby but was damaged by the Genii and soon the reality for some members of the team begins to warp causing Ronon to see Wraith and John to believe he is back on activity duty in the middle east and as for Carson…
He Shot Me!
Phantoms is a good action orientated episode and a side step away from the main season three arcs and while it doesn’t quite hit the quality targets we’ve come to expect it certainly has a lot going for it with some great cinematography and clever use of visual styles to aid in the story telling. Truth be told even with all the death there is quite a bit of dark humour in the episode something Stargate has always done well considering it’s family friendly leanings and yes McKay gets himself shot once again:)
So how great was it to have both of the original podcasts hosts back on the show?
It was good to have Scott return to the Gatecast here by meeting his one episode a year quota and I think given the right encouragement we can get him back for some more episodes next year and that invitation is of course open to anyone that wants to join us for a show, were close to wrapping up SG1 but lots of Atlantis over the next year and a bit then Universe and of course a few bonus shows along the way. It was a lot of fun to see how Twitter exploded last week, Dan seemed to be a very popular guest to have on the show so make a note to have him back sooner rather than later but that aside we didn’t get any direct feedback but never mind the episode was a lot of fun to do. This weeks promo is for the Flash Pulp Podcast a show the presents short form audio drama and next week we will be looking at the Stargate SG1 episode The Quest.
The team are ambushed when following up on some information provided by a Genii contact and John is captured by Koyla who then calls Atlantis and offers to trade John for Ladon Radim the current leader of the Genii who he believes betrayed him. Koyla proceeds to torture John by allowing a capture Wraith to feed upon him but what he doesn’t expect is that the two prisoners will form a bond and when the opportunity appears together they fight their way to freedom. Meanwhile Ladon has been investigating the leak of the Atlantis codes and uncovered Koyla’s supporters in his military and provides the location of John and a rescue mission is launched which arrives just in time to reveal an unknown ability of the Wraith.
Common Ground is a very important episode in the third season as it once again brings back Koyla played by Robert Davi but also introduces us to a Wraith who will become a recurring character and a major player in shaping the Pegasus galaxy both with and against Atlantis, Christopher Heyerdahl returns to the franchise once again playing the new character “Todd” as the Wraith. There is a quite a bit of drama and suspense in this story, not knowing of the Wraith ability to give life energy has you wondering exactly where John’s torture will eventually lead and while death is not always a final thing in scifi neither is killing off main characters for both story and behind the scenes reasons. Ladon (Ryan Robbins) made a welcome return to the show and as we mentioned it was beginning to feel a little like a Sanctuary episode and no question that the casting department and producers went to town to make sure this episode had top notch guest stars which paid off.
We got plenty of tweets and retweets for this episodes and quite a few likes and plus ones but as always we would love to hear comments and feedback in a more direct fashion, emails and voicemails but we are always grateful for any support of the show and more importantly Stargate which despite the reservations of the studios continues to have huge fan support. This weeks promo is for Pulp Audio Weekly and next week we are going to be covering the Stargate SG1 episode Memento Mori so we hope you join us for that and if you do want to get in touch then click on any of the links on this site, we know each method has it’s appeal in this social media world.
There they were just minding their own business walking into a settlement when the blow darts and crossbows are whipped out and suddenly the team are under fire with McKay getting shot in the arse which I guess everyone watching had a good laugh at but Ronon realises he has been to this community before and it didn’t go well and while Mckay does manage to reach the gate and escape the rest are taken prisoner with the intent to trade Ronon the “runner” back to the Wraith. It turns out the village was hit by the Wraith hunters when they came looking for Ronon and the chiefs daughter was fed upon as well as quite a few other people and the survivors were told to call the Wraith using a device if Ronon returned and they have so the clock it ticking. Ronon threatens to kill himself if they don’t release John and Teyla so they do and Ronon is taken once again by the Wraith but alas the settlement is wiped out but never mind at least the Wraith are predictable, they implant another tracking device in Ronon and Carson/Mckay are able to track it back to Sateda which was Ronon’s home world. The Wraith hunt Ronon in the ruins of the capital city of the planet after destroying the Stargate and Ronon puts up a great fight but help finally arrives and together they kill the Wraith forcing their leader to the planet where well you’ve just got to watch the episode:)
Right where I want you!
Sateda was one of the most expensive episodes produced upto that point and you can see why, there is awful lot of location work and guest stars/extras plus a wide range of filming techniques coupled with practical and CGI effects not to mention time consuming stunt work. Rob C Cooper in his second directorial outing really lets loose with his creative impulses and pretty much everything worked, there is plenty of humour, action and drama and the episode does look fantastic. We get a lot more of the Ronon back story which fills in a lot of the details from previous episodes where his story has been important and for Jason himself this allowed him to real do some serious acting and truth be told with his physicality to really show how powerful a physical performance he can deliver.
Many thanks to Brad for joining us this week and the featured promo is for the podcast Resurrection Revealed and the show Resurrection returns to US television later this month. Next week is the Stargate SG1 episode “Uninvited” and we will be joined for that by Jeff, tune in and please let us know what you think both good and bad.
Enemy At The Gate is a good episode of Stargate Atlantis and for the most part is not a bad season finale however it is not a good series finale, the story was rushed and plot issues not really addressed, maybe if the TV movies had been made they would have taken the sting out of being left with that final scene but we’ll never know. That said the production value of the episode is excellent, there is some stunning visual effects and full use is made of the standing Hive sets which have never looked better but there were still stories to be told and that will forever colour opinion on this episode.
